


And Then There Was One

by MiraMira



Series: genhp_ldws entries [4]
Category: Harry Potter - Rowling
Genre: Family, Gen, Missing Scene, One Shot, Wordcount: 100-1.000
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-06-28
Updated: 2010-06-28
Packaged: 2017-10-10 07:34:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 497
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/97234
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MiraMira/pseuds/MiraMira
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Percy loves his youngest brother very much.  He just doesn't know how to show it.  And he's only just beginning to realize how much of a problem that presents - especially when other people come along who do.</p>
            </blockquote>





	And Then There Was One

**Author's Note:**

> Challenge winner for Round 5 of the Gen Fic Last Drabble Writer Standing competition at LJ

The sun was blazing almost as brightly as the Chudley Cannons orange walls of the bedroom into which Percy stood peering, waiting for signs of life to emerge from the tangle of blankets on the bed before him. "Ron?" he called out softly.

"Mrf." The blankets shifted upward and slipped away, revealing Percy's bleary eyed little brother – who no longer qualified as little, Percy realized. Was it possible to grow three inches in a fortnight, or had he simply failed to notice until now? "Whazzit?"

For all the time Percy'd had to prepare, he still found himself caught off guard. "Would, er, you like to…do something today?"

"All right, all right, I'm awake," Ron grumbled. He was halfway through pulling clothes from his drawer when he realized that Percy was still standing in the doorway. His eyes widened. "Wait. With you?"

Percy supposed he deserved the incredulity. Nonetheless, it stung. "Yes."

He braced himself for a "Why?", but Ron seemed to have moved on to other realms of confusion. "Like what?"

"Ah…" Herein lay the other flaw in the plan (which, Percy had to admit, was looking more and more like a foolish hope). What interests did he and Ron share? Sports were out, and talking wasn't getting them anywhere. His glance fell on Scabbers' cage, but the rat just looked back at him as if to say, _You're on your own, kid._

Ron snorted. "Right. Find someone else to help you frame your girlfriend's photographs, Perce. I have to owl Hermione and ask if she knows some way to get in touch with Harry besides the fellytone." A fleeting wince crossed his face, replaced by annoyance as he noticed that Percy hadn't moved. "Little privacy?"

If anyone understood that desire, it was Percy. Obligingly, he backed away and retreated down the stairs, thoughts turning to the place where Ron's had already flown.

Harry and Hermione. Hermione and Harry. As individuals, they were likeable enough. As a unit, though, they represented the unnervingly impenetrable, unspoken bond between Fred and George, or Bill and Charlie – a bond made all the more unnerving by its inclusion of Ron. Ginny was set apart by virtue of her gender, but Percy had always felt a kinship with his youngest brother in their mutual awkwardness: the sense that they didn't quite fit into the clockwork gears that ran the Weasley household. That these interlopers could not only find a place for themselves but make one for Ron defied both logic and fairness. He'd tried telling himself he was being petty, but he'd stumble across them in the common room, and an endless sense of loneliness would wash over him.

"Hey, Perce?"

He stopped and looked back, heart pounding incongruously. Ron's head peered over the railing. "Yes?"

"If Errol's out, can I borrow Hermes?"

Percy tried to keep the weariness out of his voice as he made his way to the bottom of the steps. "No problem, Ron. No problem at all."


End file.
